Fox News
Published December 13, 2016 | FoxNews.com
President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he intends to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.
Tillerson impressed Trump during the two meetings he had with him. Trump had high praise for the energy titan, calling him a “world class player” in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor," Trump told host Chris Wallace. “It’s been a company that's been unbelievably managed, and to me a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia, he does massive deals for the company. Not for himself, for the company.”
Trump pointed to Tillerson’s relations with Moscow and other political hot spots as a selling point. As ExxonMobil’s chief, he maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by Russian President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, a high honor for a foreign citizen.
However, his ties to Russia haven’t sat well with some in Congress. Leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties about Tillerson, as they contend with intelligence assessments saying that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election to help turn the tables Trump’s way.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted strong, if thinly veiled, criticism of Tillerson Sunday. He said: “Being a "friend of Vladimir" is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState.”
Tillerson’s selection has also been condemned by a number of environmentalists, who have allied with Democratic attorneys general to pursue a high-profile, multi-state probe into ExxonMobil that has sputtered in recent months.
May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, called Tillerson an “unfathomable” pick, adding, "Tillerson may be a friend of Putin’s, but he’s no friend of the planet. ExxonMobil is still a leading funder of climate denial and is pursuing a business plan that will destroy our future. Tillerson deserves a federal investigation, not federal office."
The 64-year-old Tillerson began his career at Exxon in 1975 as an engineer, rising through the ranks and becoming president and director in 2004 and CEO two years later. He was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and studied civil engineering at University of Texas.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that Tillerson would be a “smart pick.”
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